1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus and an endoscope insertion assisting device suitable for smoothly inserting an insertion portion of an endoscope inserted into a body cavity and the like, for example, into a lumen of the large intestine or small intestine anally or orally. The present invention also relates to a medical treatment device which inserts an insertion portion of the endoscope inserted into a body cavity and the like using a balloon, for example, anally or orally into a lumen of the large intestine or small intestine or the like to observe or treat a predetermined site inside the lumen.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an endoscope comprises an operation unit which a technician holds to perform various operations and an insertion unit. The insertion unit comprises a flexible portion which is a long and slender tube which has flexibility and extends from the operation unit, a bending portion that is connected to the tip of the flexible portion and that can bend to the left and right or upward and downward in accordance with an operation of the operation unit, and a rigid tip component portion that is connected to the tip of the bending portion.
A technician inserts the insertion unit of this kind of endoscope into a body cavity anally, orally or nasally to perform observation and diagnosis or observation and treatment or the like at a predetermined site.
To insert the insertion unit of the endoscope into a body cavity, conventionally a method has been principally adopted in which force is exerted on the insertion unit of the endoscope from outside the body of the patient to push the insertion unit into the body cavity of the patient.
However, according to this pushing-in method, when inserting the insertion unit of an endoscope into the large intestine or small intestine anally or orally, because the intraluminal diameter of these intestines is narrow and the intestines are long and twist and turn in a complicated manner, while on the other hand the intestines are flexible and not tight, even if the insertion unit of the endoscope is pressed or moved in an advancing direction by pushing in the insertion unit of the endoscope, when the force that pushes in the endoscope is released the insertion unit is pushed back to almost its original position by the reaction force. Consequently endoscope insertion unit advances with difficulty, and since that return effect is particularly noticeable as the insertion unit reaches a deeper part of the intestine, the examination time is long and the examination is difficult when using this kind of pushing-in method, particularly when inserting the endoscope insertion unit into a deep part of the intestine.
Therefore, in view of the above described problems, endoscope insertion assisting devices have already been proposed in the prior art. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-23909 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-358222 disclose technologies that enable an endoscope insertion unit to be inserted into the intestinal tract of a patient without simply pushing the endoscope insertion unit into the body of the patient by applying force from outside.
The endoscope insertion assisting device disclosed in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-23909 has a first balloon that is fixed at a distal end of an endoscope insertion unit and a second balloon that can be caused to protrude from the distal end of the endoscope and can be moved to a position far from or near the distal end thereof, wherein the endoscope insertion unit is pushed and advanced while retaining and releasing the intestinal tract by expanding and contracting the first and second balloons, respectively, to insert the endoscope distal end to the deep part of the intestinal tract.
The endoscope insertion assisting device disclosed in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-358222 has a first balloon that is fixed at a distal end of an endoscope insertion unit and a second balloon that is fixed at a distal end of an overtube that is sheathed over the endoscope insertion unit, wherein the endoscope insertion unit is pushed and advanced while retaining and releasing the intestinal tract by expanding and contracting the first and second balloons, respectively, to insert the endoscope distal end to the deep part of the intestinal tract.
Further, an endoscope apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-7030 is adapted to advance an endoscope insertion unit while retaining and releasing the intestinal tract to insert the endoscope distal end into the deep part of the intestinal tract by expanding and contracting a first balloon provided at the distal end of the endoscope insertion unit and a second balloon provided at a distal end of an overtube that covers the endoscope insertion unit, respectively, by controlling the supply and exhaust of a fluid using a balloon control device. The endoscope apparatus also has display means that displays the supply and exhaust state of fluid to the first balloon and the second balloon on a monitor so that the operator can ascertain the supply and exhaust state of fluid to the first balloon and the second balloon from the display contents that are displayed on the display means.